


Something Spooky at Rainbow Rocket High

by BanhTM



Series: Rainbow Rocket Stories [4]
Category: Pocket Monsters SPECIAL | Pokemon Adventures, Pocket Monsters | Pokemon (Main Video Game Series), Pocket Monsters | Pokemon - All Media Types
Genre: Friendship, Gen, High School AU, Horror game references, Life lessons through others, Mystery, Rainbow Rocket High School, Rainbow Rocket University, Strong Language because Giovanni has strong feelings, Swearing, spoopy
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-07-26
Updated: 2020-08-10
Packaged: 2021-03-05 21:14:16
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 5
Words: 4,667
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25531912
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/BanhTM/pseuds/BanhTM
Summary: Delinquent Giovanni just wants one thing in life. Getting stuck in detention with five idiots is not it. But as strange things begin to happen at school, maybe working alone isn't the best option after all.Inspired by Scooby Doo! The Mystery Begins.
Series: Rainbow Rocket Stories [4]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/2148357
Comments: 2
Kudos: 30





	1. Enter: Giovanni

"Gio, hurry up! Someone's gonna see us any minute now!"

"Petrel, shut up and keep watch." Giovanni digs into his pocket for his lighter. _Click._ Rolls the cigarette between his teeth. "Archer, the gas."

"Y-Yes, Giovanni."

"Archer, stop," says a scowling Proton. "Petrel, come here. Giovanni, we're done being your goons! All you ever do is get us in trouble!"

Giovanni responds to that by flicking his cigarette to the expensive sedan, the same one his cronies had doused with gasoline after slashing its tires. As the flames roar to life, Giovanni simply puts his hands in his pocket and lights a new smoke.

_Clip. Clip. Clip._ High heels blaze against pavement. In the darkness of night, those silver eyes glisten like sharpened blades.

"Impetuous brat!" she hisses. "I just bought that sedan yesterday after you destroyed the last one!"

_"Of course_ you came if it was your car," Giovanni grunts. Veins climb up her neck. Those dark red lips twist, revealing perfectly straight teeth.

"Why you… disrespectful, ungrateful brat… Damn it, can't you wait until morning to ruin my life?"


	2. Fight!

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The legendary high school fight.

_Tick. Tock. Tick. Tock._ The Persian-themed clock teases Giovanni with its gleaming eyes. That's resolved with a stapler to its face.

_Ding! Dong!_ Westminster Quarters chimes once clock hands overlay. Clouds roll by outside the thick office windows. Chatter sneaks in through polished wooden walls.

_Clip. Clop._ Madame Principal slams the office door behind her. She smacks the coffee cup on the table and sighs so loudly papers fly across the room.

"Why?" she snaps. "Why can't you just go home and play with all the toys I bought you? Do you know how much money I had to put out to win them at the auction? Or is it food? I hired the best servants in the whole region—I even screened them myself! Why are you never satisfied with anything I give you?"

Giovanni's eyes drift to the contents on the principal's desk: confidential documents, school reports, shady contracts of her second business organization. All the pictures show her donning a smile with distinguished colleagues.

Nothing in this room reveals that face that they're mother and son.

But out loud, Giovanni shrugs. "Whatever you tell me to do, I'll keep doing it." _Because it's the only way you'll look at me._

Madame Principal groans. "Look kid. I'm very busy running this school as well as my organization. Here's some cash." She throws it at him. "I'll let you off the hook this time, and only this time." _Always the same line._ "Now get out!"

The school's superintendent, Agatha, cackles as the disgruntled young man stomps past her desk. "Well well. Looks like Giovanni's left off the hook again!"

Giovanni makes sure to slam the door on his way out.

* * *

The hallway is plagued with bodies fumbling to and fro from here and there. Papers, pencils, binders dropping every two seconds. A colorful, diverse student body of every high school archetype can be found crammed within Rainbow Rocket High.

"Hey have you heard about the principal's car? Isn't this the eighth time it caught on fire?"

"Eeek, my nails are chipping off!"

"Dude, I got some wicked alcoholic markers!"

Giovanni storms over to the most pretentious kid he can find: a very tall young man with the most stupid hairstyle ever to grace planet Earth.

"Fucking Lettuce."

Lettuce twitches. "Excuse me? Is this shrimp talking to me?" Red eyes framed with upturned eyebrows, a crooked sneer that's just asking to be wrecked. "Don't you know who I am? I am perfection unlike you, runt."

Giovanni nonchalantly flexes his wrist. "Is that your violin?" He snatches it before the other can reply. Then he's bashing it against the marble floor until he's holding a splintered stick.

Everyone had shut up. Lettuce is visibly shaking, his face bright red like a beet. "Y-You… What the HECK is your problem, you pug face with no eyebrows?!"

"Well FUCK YOU! At least I don't look like a walking salad bowl!" With a yank of those leafy antennas, Giovanni storms away. Lettuce is screeching and swearing in the back.

"Ooh!" A furry body reeking of perfume smacks against his shoulder. "Excusez-moi, I—"

"Fuck off, Sunflower."

"S-Sunflower?! I'll have you know my family is the descendant of ancient kings—

Giovanni spits into those polished dress shoes and marches on. The sane students make way for his path of destruction.

That is, except for that shrimp in the middle of the road. Fearful eyes gawk on as Giovanni leans over the much smaller student. "Aw," he says with dripping sarcasm. "Did someone throw your notebook in the trash? Let me help." He swings the shrimp into the rubbish bin and slams the lid. "Fuck you too, four-eyed Woobat!"

"Hey, what's going on?"

"Someone is bullying someone else!"

"Fuck off, hall monitors! You, the one with the goatee, go hug a fish! You, the redhead with the stupid glasses, go eat dirt or something!" With that, Giovanni shoves those idiots aside like double doors.

The old security guard Pryce scrambles to block the exit. "You can't ditch school, Giovanni! Go back or I'll tell your—"

"Get the fuck out of my way, old man!"

"Hey!" It's that jerk from before: that Lettuce, only now he's joined by Sunflower and those moronic hall monitors. One can feel the tension crackling in the air.

And Giovanni moves first. With a clean uppercut, he knocks the brittle Lettuce back to the rubbish bins. The scrawny redhead goes down with a flick to the kneecaps, but his buffer friend is much sturdier. Once Giovanni deploys his secret pocket sand, that fish freak crumbles like seaweed.

"Fils de pute! How dare you soil my shoes!"

"Stranzo! Vaffanculo! Let go of me, damn Sunflower!"

"Fight, fight, fight!" cheers the crowed. "Lys from Theatre is suplexing the hell out of that greaser!"

Through the stray hair clinging to his face, Giovanni spots those stupidly thick glasses in the raving audience. He yanks that Woobat into the ring just in time to block Sunflower's nasty left hook. Judging from that _CRACK!_ it must've hurt.

"How dare you drag an innocent peer into our duel!" snaps the taller student. "You… You are the ugliest!"

Deep into the eighth round of punches, the crowd clears for those thick heels. Manicured hands rip the two young men apart.

"What the hell is going on?" screams Madame Principal. Everyone points to the culprit. The principal's face darkens until her wrinkles threaten to reappear. "I knew it… Everyone that was involved in this school fight gets detention for the rest of the school year!"


	3. Detention

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Quality time.

_Ding. Dong. Ding. Dong._ A familiar tune signals the end of the school day. Students pour out of the building, talking in excited whispers of the events from this afternoon.

"Arceus, I can't believe Madame Principal confiscated everyone's phones!"

"My video got wiped too! Man, it's like she _wanted_ to destroy all evidence of that fight!"

In the Rainbow Rocket Library, the superintendent Agatha glowers down at the six troublemakers. Four out of the six had been unwilling dragged over as a consequence of being "involved" in the scuffle.

"I can't believe I'm getting paid to do detention," the old woman grumbles.

"It's all his fault!" Lettuce jabs a vengeful finger to the apathetic culprit. "He broke my precious violin—"

"Harmonia, this is the library! Shh!"

"But there's no one here—"

"You are in detention, Archie! Damn, now I have to call your parents…"

"No!" the redhead cries. "You can't do that—"

"I can, and I will, Maxie! Now be quiet! You have the rest of the school year to lament on your mistakes!"

Maxie whimpers into his hands. "I can't believe this… an honor roll student, a distinguished hall monitor, subjected to the whims of pubertal rage! This is an outrage!"

Lettuce rolls his eyes. "You think you have it bad? My instrument got smashed! I have a concert with RRH Orchestra, the most prestigious high school ensemble in the world!"

"I have a football game!" Archie moans.

Agatha comes back. "Harmonia, you still haven't provided us with a phone number."

"Ugh, I told you people! I don't have a landline! Send a Pidove or something!'

"Lysandre, no one's home?"

"Non. They are still on their business trip."

Then Agatha's eyes settle on the blue head of hair. "When your parents finally picked up, they weren't happy, Cyrus… There's still space in the janitor's closet."

"O-Oh. Thank you, Ma'am…"

After Agatha leaves, the young men return to glaring daggers at each other. The atmosphere has gotten so tense that a speckle of dust would not dare to fall down.

"I hate you," growls Harmonia.

"You read my mind," Giovanni purrs back.

Archie waves his hands. "Hey, let's all calm down. We'll be seeing each other until this school year ends, so let's officially introduce ourselves! I'm Archie of the varsity football team! And this is Maxie, my best friend—"

"Don't go telling everyone I'm your best friend!"

"—and president of RRH's Academic Decathlon!" Maxie puts his face on the table and groans. Archie flashes a bright smile, oblivious to the extremely toxic atmosphere. "You're the head of Theatre, right? Lion… something."

"Lysandre," is the muffled grunt. "Theatre _and_ Business Club. You see, my family comes from a long line of distinguished entrepreneurs."

"Yeah, cool. And you… I've seen you performing for our home matches. Harmonica?"

_"Harmonia,"_ Lettuce huffs. "Ghetsis Harmonia Gropius. And I conduct, not play in the stands like a commoner."

"Pfft. Gropius? Are you related to Tropius, because you both look like fucking trees!"

"You look like a fricking mobster!"

While those mortal enemies spite each other, Archie turns to the quietest member of the group of misfits. "Hey you. I think I've seen you here and there, but this is the first time I've actually heard you talk. What's your name?"

"My name is Cyrus." Barely a whisper. He's pressed all the way back in his chair, squeezing himself to be as small as possible.

Maxie snickers. "Cyrus, huh? Where'd you get your glasses? At the flea market?"

"Where'd you get yours? At a Lego Shop?" Ghetsis cackles. Despite him hating that lettuce with every fiber of his being, Giovanni has to give him props on that insult. Maxie's face goes very red, much to the amusement of his older classmates.

Then Giovanni slaps the table. "Listen up, dweebs. I'm Giovanni, and I don't give a crap—"

"The one in the leather jacket, sit down or I'll tell you-know-who." That from Agatha, and the young man quickly drops his ass down.

* * *

After another awkward silence, Archie pulls out from his pack an unbearable odor akin to that of reeking armpits. "Tuna and peanut butter!" he proudly declares. "Anyone hungry?"

"That is the most hideously ugly thing I have ever seen!" screeches Lysandre. "Get it away GET IT AWAY!"

"Archie, why?" yelps Maxie. "Come on, I thought you stopped eating that stuff in grade school!"

"But it's good!" insists the jock. "Cyrus, is that your stomach I hear? Here, I'll rip you a piece… It tastes much better than it smells, promise." 

Giovanni unclasps his ears. "Hey, since we're in the library and all, why don't you SHUT UP and read a damn book! All your yelling is giving me a headache!"

"Fine!" Ghetsis spits. Then all is silent again once everyone picks up their books… except for Archie of course, who's licking the peanut butter off his fingers with a variety of grossly wet sounds.

Maxie clears his throat. "Er… hey. Y'all like mystery books?" Giovanni looks around. _Fuck, this nerd is right! Disgusting!_

Lysandre arches an eyebrow. "Ah, Ghetsis. I've read that book already. The whole thing was a set up to avenge the murder of an American actress."

Ghetsis slaps his book down. "Lysandre, the protagonist is a fake psychic and he meets his end in gunfire."

"C'est des conneries."

"What does that mean? Maxie, what does that mean?!"

"It means you're all fucking idiots." With that, Giovanni tears out two pages of a book, stuffs them into his ears, and places his head into his arms for the rest of detention.


	4. What Happened to the School?

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Here comes the spooks.

"Who turned down the heat?"

Giovanni wakes up to find himself in the middle of a fucking blizzard. It's so damn cold that Lettuce's antennas have wilted.

Maxie scrambles to the thermostat. "Huh. It displays a cozy 72-25 degrees though…"

"Do you need your eyes checked again, Maxie? It is as frigid as Giovanni's heart right now!"

"Shut up, Sunflower!"

**_BOOM!_** With thunder comes rain. Whereas the sun was still shining mere seconds ago, the skies are now an overcast, bruised grey.

**_BOOM!_** The lights flicker. Something is burning.

**_BOOM!_** Then darkness. A heavy, inky blackness that swirls and swirls into infinity.

Something moist and salty presses against Giovanni's back. "I-I had a nightmare about this once!" hisses Archie. "I was locked in the library waiting for Maxie to finish his homework!"

"It's so dark," Ghetsis mumbles, hands groping around for something solid. "Huh? The light switches don't work!"

_Click._ Two rectangular lights break through the gloom. Maxie cycles through various intensities of illumination by repeatedly tapping a button on his frames.

Cyrus gasps. "Maxie, did you install flashlights into your glasses? How fascinating…"

Maxie smirks. "You _are_ talking to The Great Maxie after all." Scoffs follow that self-proclamation. "Cyrus, when I count to three, you'll open the door. One… Three!"

"AAAH!"

"LYSANDRE!"

"P-Pardon me. I-I was… ahem."

Beyond the safety the library doors yawns an endless hallway. In addition to the lack of lights, thick white fog had begun rolling in from beyond the walls.

Giovanni slams the door shut.

"You locked Cyrus outside," says Archie.

Giovanni reluctantly opens the door. Cyrus stares at him. That nerd has a glowing stick in his hand: a makeshift lantern from a wooden ruler. "We need to check the fuse box," the latter says softly, almost eerily so.

"Where?" Ghetsis grunts.

"The basement, of course."

* * *

**_BOOM!_** Lightning illuminates ominous things outside the rain-etched windows. Everyone presses close to the unflappable Cyrus as he wades further into the darkness.

"The news said nothing about a storm!" Maxie yelps.

"Weather is weird in general," Archie adds helpfully.

"Why didn't we go the other way?" grumbles Lysandre. "Why are we still here in the school?!"

Giovanni rolls his eyes. "Because someone was complaining about their designer shoes getting wet—ow! Lettuce, stop stomping on my foot!"

"I can't see a darn thing!"

Cyrus suddenly stops, causing the older students to freeze solid. He lifts his ruler flashlight. "Maxie, what do you see in the far left corner? Next to the washrooms?"

"Er… lockers?"

"I thought I saw someone's head."

Giovanni smacks Cyrus in the back of _his_ head. "You need to get your fucking glasses checked!"

Archie spins around. "What? Why are you all staring at me like that? Didn't someone call me?"

That's when Lysandre begins praying. Everyone shuts up and follows the shrimp around the corner and down a flight of stairs.

"'Employees Only,'" says Ghetsis. "Oh well. Let's go—"

The door creaks open before Cyrus can place his keys in. It's pitch-black in the boiler room. Soon that shrimp is messing around with colorful wires while a "Danger: Electrocution" sign looms in front of him.

"That's strange…" Cyrus gestures his anxious upperclassmen to come closer. They refuse. "A fuse is mixing from the fuse box. That's why the lights went out."

Ghetsis crosses his arms. "Y-Yes, and? Hurry up and put it back!"

"It is _missing,"_ Cyrus repeats with emphasis. "A fuse cannot grow legs and walk off by itself. If you can find it for me, I can restart the generator—"

Giovanni slams his foot down. "I don't fucking play fetch. _You_ go look for it. I'll watch over the fusion box."

"Fuse box."

"Shut the fuck up, four eyes."

Cyrus stands. "All right. Please don't lock the door this time."

"Woah!" Archie races to the doorway. "Are y'all really letting him go off alone? Out there?" Nods and murmurs. The jock groans. "I cannot _believe_ you! Maxie, go with Cyrus."

"Eh?! _You_ go if you care about him that much!"

"Fine! I…" Cyrus is gone. Archie blanches. He grabs Maxie and vanishes into the darkness.

* * *

Thus, the three upperclassmen are left alone. In the boiler room in the basement. In the dark. With a "Danger: Electrocution" sign dangling haphazardly from the ceiling.

"This is like a cliché horror novel," murmurs Lysandre as he moves to lock the door. "Blackout. Fog. We split up. W-What's next, a letter from someone who had been dead three years ago but somehow managed to reach us from the other world? Are we reliving a nightmarish hell of our broken psyche?!"

"Why are theatre kids so dramatic?" Ghetsis huffs. "Actually, keep monologuing. I'm just going to hold each of your sleeves, and we'll forget this fiasco ever happened."

"Now _there's_ something we can agree on."

_Click._ Something rolls on the floor. Something hits Giovanni's foot. An oblique cylindrical tube. The missing fuse.

"Lettuce."

"W-What?"

Giovanni feels for Ghetsis's sleeve. "Please tell me that's your arm."

"Huh? But I'm right hererere…GET THE DOOR!"

Lysandre kicks the door down, and all three upperclassmen shoot out of the boiler room. In their flight, no one minds the fact that Ghetsis is clamping down on both Lysandre's and Giovanni's hands. Feet stampede madly up the stairs, throats going raw screaming names of any humans that happen to still be around.

**_BAM!_** Bodies collide with a reverberating clap.

Archie groans. "Ow… Yo, Maxie, you all right?"

"There was someone in the basement!" Lysandre cries. "Forget about ruined shoes, we need to GET OUT!"

"Cyrus is still missing—"

"Forget about him, Maxie!" yells Giovanni. "I need to tell that old hag that her school's fucking haunted—"

**_BOOM!_** A twisted shadow looms down the corridor. Someone screams, and it's definitely not the Theatre kid.

"Are you all right?" Stale white light washes over Cyrus's pale face. "I heard noises—"

Giovanni tosses whatever he can find nearby at the shrimp. "FUCK YOU! That's not funny, setting us up like that! Is this your way of getting back at me for throwing you into the trash can?!"

Maxie quickly intervenes. "Hey, let's all calm down. Cyrus, where were you?"

"I… I was searching near the chemistry wing when I thought I heard someone calling my name. I gave chase, and…" Words are becoming muffled by sleeves. "I'm sorry."

Archie pats the trembling underclassman on the shoulder. "The good news is that we're all safe and all limbs are accounted for. Let's find the exit."

**_"OvEr… HEre…"_**

"Ghetsis, shut up."

"It-It wasn't me!"

Cyrus jabs his ruler flashlight into the shadows. "That's the voice I heard! We mustn't lose it!"

* * *

The group stops before a row of green lockers.

"That one," Cyrus says. Everyone sees that special 3-digit number and groans.

"I'll stand over here," says Lysandre. Ghetsis and Giovanni form a net to corral the former back to the locker. "Oooh… come now… I have a Pyroar to feed back home!"

Nevertheless, the students watch anxiously as Cyrus reaches for the stained handle. He's taking so damn long that Giovanni shoves him aside and flings the locker open.

"AAAAAHHHhhaaha… Ah?" Lysandre reluctantly cracks open one eye. "It's… a book."

"It's a _tome,"_ Maxie mutters. Unlike all the posh books at RRH library, this one holds the appearance of something dredged from a sealed well.

An invisible wind blows the cover open, phantasmal fingers ripping through pages until they stop at a black bookmark.

Ghetsis's eyes widen. "Those… Those are ancient spells! And that sigil… Is this the Necrono—"

**_BOOM!_** Thunder shakes the school. **_BOOM!_** A section of concrete wall implodes. **_BOOM!_** Green flames burst into the air. 

**_BOOM!_** When the ghoulish light dies, a cloaked figure hovers before the levitating tome. A skeletal finger protrudes from under black robes, pointing to the petrified young men.

**_"ThE dAy OF reCkONing WilL bEfall RAinBow ROcKet HIgh!"_** Its voice is a distorted, disconcerting warble, similar to a mysterious radio emission from deepest region of the ocean. **_"LEAve nOw, or be Met wIth a tERriBle FATE alOng wiTh tHe rest Of thiS sCHool!"_**

BOOM! Gales tear through the windows. Lockers are slashed. Skin is lacerated. Rain accumulates on the ceiling until everything collapses.

**_"HeED mY warNIng WEll, moRtals! ThiS is oNly the beGiNnIng!"_**

And that's the last thing Giovanni remembers before his world is swallowed by flames and flood.

* * *

Giovanni's eyes snap open to find Ghetsis's hair antennae in his mouth. He raises his head to find the equally shocked Archie, Maxie, Cyrus, and Lysandre gaping back at him.

They are sitting in the brightly lit library. The thermostat reads and reflects a toasty 72-25 degrees. Outside, the sun is just beginning to set.

Archie rubs his eyes. Pinches himself. Pinches Maxie too. "Dudes… You were in my nightmare! You too!"

The door flies open. "What did you punks do?" Agatha screeches. "How can you cause so much destruction while I was in the washroom?!"

Blank stares. Maxie opens his mouth.

"GET OUT!" Agatha barks. "NOW!"

* * *

The hallway is a flooded mess. Vicious slash marks desecrate expensive marble walls. Fire had left nothing untouched, as evident by the crumbling skeletons of the lockers.

"It wasn't me!" Ghetsis yelps. "I was stuck in detention with these idiots!"

Lysandre smooths his hair and dons a winning grin. "Madame Agatha, I would never commit heinous vandalism like this! My family—"

"You six were the only brats to stay behind!" the old woman snaps. "I swear, if I die with my eyes open because of you, I will NEVER leave you alone! I am very, very disappointed in all of you, _especially_ you, Cyrus!"

Heels stampede down the hallway. Giovanni ducks before Madame Principal can wring her pedicured hands around his throat. "It wasn't me this time!" he snarls. "I was in detention!"

"Oh yeah? If it wasn't you, then who? Who has the audacity to commit both arson and vandalism at the same time?!"

"It was the ghost!" All heads turn to Maxie. "There was a storm, and the fog began rolling in, and… The ghost stole the fuse and threatened that a terrible fate will befall the school if we stayed!"

"It's true!" Archie says.

"There was indeed a ghost!" chimes Ghetsis.

The older women exchange a glance. "Cyrus," says Agatha. "Is what these young men are saying true?"

Everyone glares at Cyrus. He hides his face. "Y-Yes, Ma'am…"

A silence. A long, heavy silence. Then Madame Principal throws back her head in a hearty laugh. "Students. I am pleased to inform you that detention has been rescinded for the rest of the school year—"

"Phew!"

"Tis but a bad dream!"

"All's well that ends well!"

"—because you are all SUSPENDED!"

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hooray references!


	5. Limo Ride

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> To Lys's residence!

"SUSPENDED?!"

"Maxie, enough already!"

But Maxie isn't shutting up any time soon. "We got SUSPENDED, Archie! It'll go on my permanent record! Oh no no I'll be marked a delinquent for life! I won't be able to apply to Ivy Leagues or the top public research university or—"

"We can transfer from community college," Archie suggests.

"You don't understand!" Maxie bawls. "I worked so hard to get accepted into RRH, and now I have a suspension slapped into my transcript? Because of a fucking ghost?!"

Everyone gasps at Maxie's explicit language. Then Ghetsis shrugs. "Don't think you're the only one who had to make sacrifices to go to the city for a proper education."

"Ghetsis… You do care…"

"NO, I DON'T! FOR THE LOVE OF VEGANISM, STOP CRYING!"

Lysandre sniffs into a silken, monogrammed handkerchief. "I cannot believe we are sitting on a public bench in a communal park! I should've brought my other jeans…"

"You want us to stay there instead?" Giovanni grunts. He puts a cigarette in his mouth and fishes for his lighter. "That old hag was about to call the cops."

"A principal wouldn't do that to students!"

"She ain't a normal old hag, four-eyes."

Archie taps Giovanni's shoulder. "Gio, can you—"

"Don't fucking call me that, fish-brain."

"—okay, okay! Can you please stop smoking? Cyrus is coughing."

Cyrus stiffens. "N-No, I'm fine, Archie."

Giovanni exhales a nicotine-infused breath. "See? He's fine, Archie. Stop being a goody-two-shoes."

Archie frowns. "I'm not trying to be overbearing. I'm just saying that smoking causes cancer. Even secondhand smoke is dangerous too, especially for children and the elderly. We're in a _park_ of all places!"

_"That's_ why his brains are all messed up," Ghetsis huffs. "Toxic chemicals fried them into mush."

A vein throbs on Giovanni's forehead. He rolls up his sleeves, but damn sunflower intervenes before he can stuff lettuce into a knuckle sandwich. Ghetsis gives an _"I told you so"_ eye roll.

Maxie's groaning brings everyone back to the predicament at hand. "This is unacceptable! I can't face my mom and dad now!"

"They already called my house," Archie mutters. "Ma and Pa won't let us see each other again!"

"My cabin is off-limits," says Ghetsis.

"Mine too," Giovanni adds.

"I'd rather not go back right now," Cyrus mumbles.

Lysandre crosses his arms, thinking. "Weeelll… Mère and Père aren't home yet. So everyone can stay at my manor while we think of a plan to clear our names."

A collective sigh of relief is passed. Cyrus's stomach growls. "There will be food," assures Lysandre. He produces a bulky cellular phone, twiddling with the antennae until he gets reception.

"Augustine? Yes, pick us up near the communal park… Well, school didn't technically end, but I wish to go back early. Hmm? Yes, 'us.' There are five other people with me. I don't think their shoes are that dirty, just hurry up."

* * *

Cyrus presses his glasses against the window, marveling in awe at the passing landscape. He presses a glowing button, and a glass of fizzling cider emerges from the cocktail machine. Then he notices the upperclassmen's stares and instantly goes back to picking at his sleeves.

Lysandre utters a hearty laugh. "My goodness! It is as if you all have never ridden in a limousine sedan before!" Giovanni opens his mouth, but upon realizing that stolen cars don't count, he shuts up.

"Not everyone can afford to indulge," Maxie grumbles, reaching for another éclair from the mini fridge. He and Archie had cleaned out a shelf of Kalosian breads. While no one is looking, Cyrus stuffs a madeleine into his pocket.

Ghetsis has his forehead planted on the chilled window glass. His hair antennas have shriveled. Low, ominous whimpering rumbles in his tightened throat.

Lysandre taps on the chauffeur's shoulder. "Monsieur Augustine, can you turn on the ventilation? My acquaintance seems to be coming down with a spring fever."

"Ghetsis is car sick," Cyrus mutters. Lysandre blinks. "Nausea," the former explains. "He might throw up."

That, and Lysandre blanches. "STOP THE LIMOUSINE!"

"Do we need to go to l'hôpita?" Augustine yelps, swerving madly to the side. Ghetsis gives an unpleasant burp. Maxie is freaking out. Archie is too overwhelmed to react. Giovanni simply lights another cigarette as the world burns down around him.

"Stop." That cold, authoritative voice wipes the smirk from Giovanni's face. A hush falls over the worked up crowd as Cyrus peels a queasy Ghetsis off the floor. "He needs to lie down. Giovanni, may I borrow your laps?"

"Hell to the fuck no!"

Archie volunteers his laps. He messages a moaning lettuce while Cyrus fans cold air into his face.

Augustine turns around. "Lysandre, you never told me your copains are les médecins!"

"They are not my friends!"

"Eyes on the road!" Maxie screams. The limousine sedan narrowly avoids a bus of tourists.

"I am going to throw up all over the leather interior," Ghetsis whispers.

"NOOOON!"

Giovanni flicks his smoking cigarette into some poor fool's trash bin. Then he pulls out the leather seat and closes his eyes.

This was going to be a long ride.


End file.
